Lucio Caputo, former director of the Italian Trade Agency in Philadelphia and in New York, became an entrepreneur in the early 1970s. In 1983, he founded the Italian Wine & Food Institute, an non-profit dedicated to promoting the image of Italian food and wine in the United States.

Caputo has been an important presence in the world of Italian business, also as the President of the Gei, (Gruppo Esponenti Italiani) an association of Italian entrepreneurs and professionals. The Gei has, over the course of the years, given out the Gei Award to many figures operating in various sectors all over the world. Amongst them, Luciano Pavarotti, Gianni Agnelli, Sergio Pininfarina, Sandro Pertini, Guido Carli.

In the words of the Italian Ambassador in DC, Armando Varricchio, who remembers him with fondness and gratitude. "His involvement and professional ability in promoting quality Italian products, first as the head of the Italian Trade Agency and the as an entrepreneur, has been fundamental... Another important element in Caputo's life is having been the motor for launching initiatives and for raising enthusiasm within the Italian community."